Q&A: Anna Torv on the Fringe Legacy

It seems that Fox's Fringe has been, for more than four years now, on the verge of cancellation. But it's also been, arguably, one of the best sci-fi shows on network television since The X-Files. And maybe it's the uncertainty of its future that's inspired the show to take so many risks: an entire season in an alternate universe with doppelgänger characters; jumping among multiple renditions of the future; bald men who want to enslave the human race. Oh, and a love story, not that there's ever much risk in those. Now that its fifth and final season is about to air, this Friday, we decided to talk about all that's happened with Fringe star and Woman We Love Anna Torv.

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ESQUIRE.COM: You're in the middle of shooting the last season of Fringe. How far along are you?

ANNA TORV: We can't believe it. I think today marks our halfway point. We're at six [episodes], out of thirteen.

ESQ: How does it feel now that there's an end in sight?

AT: It's a luxury that you don't always get. To be able to enjoy the last leg of what's turned into a marathon. Five years is a long time to spend with these characters. And we're making the most of it. The writers are excited to finish properly, without having to straddle the line of Could this be the end or not?

ESQ: How's working with Gene the cow?

AT: Everybody's in love with Gene. I, unfortunately, don't get to do much with her.

ESQ: There's a stand-in.

AT: Absolutely.

ESQ: A fake cow?

AT: Yes, that lives in the stable.

ESQ: Is it lifelike?

AT: Of course. But she doesn't have fur. She doesn't have cowhide. She's just a dummy.

ESQ: How was getting shot in the head at the end of last season?

AT: Walter's actually shot me in the head before, so I'm sort of used to that.

ESQ: He's shot you in the head before? I can't remember that.

AT: I can't remember the exact season, but when we were in the future at some point. Walternate shot me in the head and killed me.

ESQ: John Noble seems so much different than his character.

AT: He's not all that different. John's a little eccentric.

ESQ: Does that mean he also has an obsession with licorice?

AT: He's forced to eat it.

ESQ: Sci-fi has a history of celebrating strong female leads. What's it feel like to be in the ranks of, say, Gillian Anderson?

AT: I don't know. I think it's something you'll be able to look at objectively when you're finished with a show. For now, you're just focused on what you're doing. But I think our writers are obviously fans of the genre. They certainly give not-so-subtle nods in our stories. Like how Leonard [Nimoy] always comes back. It's like an acknowledgment that we're all in a daisy chain.

ESQ:Fringe must have been your first introduction to Comic-Con. How is it?

AT: It's really interesting, because it kind of bookends our seasons. So you go there and you get to be debriefed on what people liked or didn't like about the season that you've just shot. And it comes just before you can incorporate that into the season you're about to do. But the first Comic-Con that we went to — no one had seen the show. The pilot actually premiered there. And everyone was at the panel to ask about the end of Lost. But by the next year, everybody knew the characters.

ESQ: Anything weird happen there?

AT: One of the first years, this girl came to get her poster signed, and she had just gotten a little tattoo of our Fringe butterfly on her leg, and she asked if I would sign it. I said, "Sure," and the next year she came back with that tattooed on the butterfly. I would've done a much better job if I'd known.

ESQ: When the show started, it didn't really seem like there was going to be a romantic relationship between your character, Olivia Dunham, and Peter Bishop. But that happened by the end of season two. Were you at all surprised?

AT: I was aware that when you walk into a show, and we're relatively the same age, that we would be each other's love interest. But what I think the writers have done is manage to keep us apart, put us together, keep us apart, put us together. Which is what you want. If you wanted to just watch a relationship, you should probably watch a different show.

ESQ: Olivia is always just shy of actually being happy, at least for an extended period of time.

AT: I know. But a part of me thinks that, sometimes, people are just that way.

ESQ: And you touch upon that, at least in the alternate-universe version of Olivia.

AT: Exactly. They've kind of got the same stuff. She's got the same job; she just takes it differently. There's a lightness. They say some people are really programmed that way — I was reading some article — that you have a set level of happiness. You can work toward getting your level a little higher, but you're just born with it.

ESQ: That is grim.

AT: I know! I don't mean to be negative. I want her and Peter to live happily ever after.

ESQ: What's the hardest part of playing a doppelgänger from an alternate universe?

AT: I loved it. Because with Olivia, it's like, God, honey, just smile. So the days I got to play Bolivia, which is what we call her, I was in such a good mood. I told a lot of jokes. I loved it. Amazing how it rubs off on you.

ESQ: You have about six episodes left. Have you thought about what to do when it's all said and done?

AT: I'm just at the point where I'm thinking about that now. I didn't want to think about it at the beginning. We still had a season to shoot. Now that we've got a couple of months left, I'm wondering what I'm going to do with my stuff, where I'm going to go. But I don't know.